Softball Ireland is pleased to announce the appointment of Ashley Carter as a new assistant coach for the Women’s National Fastpitch team ahead of the World Championships in Surrey, Canada .
Ashley Carter is currently in her second season as assistant coach with Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania who play in the PSAC. In her first year as an assistant, Carter assisted Slippery Rock to tie for second in the PSAC in stolen bases with 59, whilst developing patience at the plate with the Rock batters ranking first in the PSAC with only 145 strikeouts. 2016 has seen even greater success with the Rock qualifying for the PSAC Championship finals starting on April 27.
Before coaching, Carter had a distinguished playing career with Division 1 College Cal State Fullerton. Carter finished her college career as the Titans fourth highest leader in all-time triples (9) and eighth in fielding percentage (.988). She was selected to the First-Team All-Big West Conference in 2012 as an outfielder after recording team-highs in hits, batting average, runs scored and extra base hits.
After a distinguished College career, Carter played professionally for the Pennsylvania Rebellion in the National Pro Fastpitch League. Carter further had a short career in Mexico for Team Ruthless with former USA Olympian Crystl Bustos before entering coaching.
Carter will join Team Ireland Head Coach Melanie Lavery and Assistant Coach Sean Mitchell is preparing the Irish team for the World Championships in July.
Speaking of the appointment, Softball Ireland’s President Colum Lavery said
“We are delighted that Ashley agreed to become part of the programme.” “Ashley will bring a wealth of knowledge both from her playing experience at the top level and through her coaching experience with Slippery Rock University” added Lavery.
“Ashley’s appointment will add great support to our already excellent coaching team”. “We hope this appointment shows our commitment to growing the game of Fastpitch softball in Ireland, not just at the elite level but also at the grass roots level by appointing high calibre coaches to our programme” added Lavery.
The Softball Ireland Women’s National Team coaching team are all volunteers, who give up a lot of time to help grow the sport, and we at Softball Ireland are very grateful to them and the team management
As part of her Coaching role, Carter has agreed to act as a scout on behalf of Softball Ireland to identify the next generation of International Players.